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iMac now or later

N

neo1982

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2011
2
0
I have been reading threads about the possibility of a new iMac in the pipeline for Q2, Q3 or Q4 of 2011.

I'm new to Apple, I've been a Microsoft guy through & through for 12 years, I still am, but the design of Apple's hardware is just too entising.

My partner bought me an iPod Touch 4th Gen for Christmas & since then I've been hooked.

My PC is long due an upgrade and after purposefully decorating my office white & ordering a white desk to house some beautiful Apple product, I am now ready to buy.

I have made my mind up that I want an iMac, I just love everything about them. But do I buy one now or wait, if so how long & will my budget need to expand?

I don't want to pay £2,500 on an iMac to find that in 3 months time its got an all new processor with Thunderbolt & integrated SSD for the same price.

This is the specification I'm going for at the moment:

Screen Size: 27"
CPU: i7 Quad Core 2.93GHz
RAM: 4GB (which I will upgrade to 16GB after purchase)
HDD: 256GB SSD
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD5750 with 1GB

I like the current chin on the iMac, which I've heard could be going :-(

I don't like the rumours about it being touchscreen either, why would I want to touch that beautiful crystal clear display with my greasy fingers?

I also heard that they might get rid of the optical drive, thats bizarre.

So, I want to get an iMac, but I don't want to get ripped off (by that I mean, higher specification come out for the same price) and I don't want it to have the above modifications that are rumoured.

I'd love to hear what you guys/girls think about my dilemma & what you would do in my situation?
 
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Wait. You either get all the newest technology in the new release at the current price or cheaper or you can buy the current model for much cheaper when the new products are released. It really is a win win to wait if you can. I am going to play the waiting game as well.
 
Hey thanks for the reply, I guess its just a waiting game .... and a painful waiting game at that :-(

Do you think Apple are waiting for the Sandbridge Technology?

If so, with the problem at the end of January with its development by Intel, it could be sometime before they are comfortable putting it in the iMac, after all Apple would want a PR disaster by having to recall millions of new iMacs.

One interesting comment a friend of mine said the other day was "If you wait for the next upgrade, you will then hear about another upgrade due & so on, you will never end up buying one". This is very true, I was interested in the iPad, then thought I will wait till v2 for the cameras, now I hear the rumours of v3 by Q4 2011 which will have an even better specification.

I understand the iMac has not been updated since July 2010?

I hope they release news about an upgraded model soon :-(
 
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I think the new imqcs will have the sandy bridge processors. Why else would they update? Just to add thunderbolt and thats it? Nope. If you cant wait then buy now but i am waiting. It is true what your friend said about the waiting game. However, i disagree in this situatio. Only because the update isnt far away and at the very least you could save money on the current products.
 
neo1982 said:
I don't want to pay £2,500 on an iMac to find that in 3 months time its got an all new processor with Thunderbolt & integrated SSD for the same price.
Click to expand...

In that case, you should definitely wait. It's very likely that iMacs will be within three months.

neo1982 said:
Do you think Apple are waiting for the Sandbridge Technology?

If so, with the problem at the end of January with its development by Intel, it could be sometime before they are comfortable putting it in the iMac, after all Apple would want a PR disaster by having to recall millions of new iMacs.
Click to expand...

MBPs were just released with the new, fixed chipsets. There is no issue about iMac recall or anything like that. Intel said the fixed chipsets will be shipping in full quantity in April, which fits nicely with the iMac update.

One interesting comment a friend of mine said the other day was "If you wait for the next upgrade, you will then hear about another upgrade due & so on, you will never end up buying one". This is very true, I was interested in the iPad, then thought I will wait till v2 for the cameras, now I hear the rumours of v3 by Q4 2011 which will have an even better specification.
Click to expand...

iMac are update about every 10 months or so. If you buy one right after the update, then there is no need to worry at all. This is how technology works.
 
neo1982 said:
I have made my mind up that I want an iMac, I just love everything about them. But do I buy one now or wait, if so how long & will my budget need to expand?

I don't want to pay £2,500 on an iMac to find that in 3 months time its got an all new processor with Thunderbolt & integrated SSD for the same price.

I don't like the rumours about it being touchscreen either, why would I want to touch that beautiful crystal clear display with my greasy fingers?

I also heard that they might get rid of the optical drive, thats bizarre.
Click to expand...

Going by your feelings I'd say wait the next couple of months or so and then buy on the day the refresh comes out, you wont be disappointed, plus you get time to save a little more, every little bit is going to help on the big day.
I'll even put my neck out and say that the refresh will include Thunderbolt and Sandybridge technology and better graphics.
But I don't think you need be concerned about touchscreen coming anytime soon nor the removal of the optical drive, that would be a whole new iMac change.
Kind of finding the excitement of getting my first ever mac kinda overwhelming, reminds me of standing in the delivery waiting room to see my baby daughter for the very first :cool:
 
Wait

I'd wait. In fact I am waiting. The new sandy bridge processors in the MBPs are so fast on the benchmark tests that they are faster than most of the iMacs with higher clock speeds. Apple will HAVE tomupgrade the iMacs soon to address this inconsistency. I'd expect the new processor, better graphics, thunderbolt and some other minor upgrades. It won't be a major redesign with them pulling the opticals, touch screen etc. I hope a 128ssd is standard but I doubt it. So bottom line is WAIT!

If for some reason you absolutely can't wait I'd buy a new new MBP with a 27 inch external display before I got a current iMac. The sandy bridge performance is that good.
 
Just wait.

The MBP's were updated lately with the new Sandy Bridge CPU's and better GPU's. So it won't take long for the iMac's to get Sandy Bridge CPU's and better GPU's (the MBP's are at this moment better then the iMac's, and Apple can't leave it that way (for some time)), and a Thunderbolt port too ofcourse.

It's rumoured the design will stay and we saw it did for the MBP's. So for the new iMac's it will probably stay too (cheaper to build). Therefore, the optical drive will stay too. No need to worry about the chin or optical drive I would say ;)

Touchscreen is a no go. Apple confirmed during the Macbook Air release they DID tested touchscreens for the iMac, but the results were not that good so they won't place a touchscreen in the iMac (see the conference video). It was very tiresome to use (pointing your hand horizontaly towards the big screen) and therefore they rather wanted a touch-input device (iPad, Magic Trackpad) for the Mac. Again, no need to worry ;)

An integrated SSD is yet something we can only guess about. The MBP didn't get one, but the iMac has more room for it and you can allready get a SSD for your iMac (the 256GB one). So it is possible the SSD will become cheaper AND/OR a small SSD will come as standard together with a HDD. So this is still something you can worry about :)
 
I agree with the others - just wait. The iMac line will probably update pretty soon and it doesn't sound like you need it right now (although, I understand the wait can be difficult). I agree with Hellhammer's estimate for an update in the next 3 months. It looks like, from the buyer's guide, that all of the iMac updates have been less than a year apart, so that would put it before the end of July at any rate.
 
I am checking the news daily to see when the Imacs will be updated. My fingers are itching to pull the trigger but something tells me that I should wait for thunderbolt and sandy bridge along with whatever else comes standard.. These are going to be 2-4 L O N G months ahead!
 
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